1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to display panels that are rotatably mounted about a chassis and, in particular, a positioning element for allowing rotation but preventing axial movement between the display panel and the main chassis.
2. Description of the Related Art
Printing devices such as typewriters or word processors have a main chassis or a body about which a display panel is rotatably secured. The display panel is generally loosely placed within a frame member of the main chassis so that the user may easily tilt the display panel to the desired viewing position.
During operation, the user sets the display panel at the desired viewing position and begins typing. After the viewer has confirmed on the display panel that the typed material has been accurately represented, a printing assembly, such as an ink jet, a thermal printer or an impact element, begins printing the typed characters onto a recording medium. At such time, however, vibration from the printing assembly causes the display panel and the chassis to rattle, thus causing an undesirable noise, low reliability and shortened life expectancy of the rattling parts.
One solution to solving the rattling problem is to manufacture the engaging parts of the display panel and the chassis to have a very high manufacturing tolerance. However, because the display panel and the chassis are manufactured in a molding process and are relatively large in size, it is difficult and expensive to manufacture the display panel and the chassis to have high tolerances. Moreover, small errors in manufacturing the display panel and the chassis may cause the display panel to be fit into the chassis very tightly, and make it very difficult to rotate the display panel with respect to the chassis when it is desirable to change the viewing position of the display panel.
Other solutions to solving the rattling problem have also been proposed. For example, one solution is to provide washer members to the hinges that rotatably connect the display panel to the chassis. In addition, another prior art solution is to provide a spring member between the display panel and the chassis to constantly bias the display panel against the chassis. These solutions also suffer from low reliability and require additional parts and commensurate manufacturing and assembling steps.